Rake's Redemption (Wind Dragons Motorcycle Club) (3 page)

None.

Fuck, I need a smoke, even though I quit.

“She’s pretty,” I hear Tracker say from behind, placing his hand on my shoulder for a second before removing it. “Lana seems fond of her. We gonna have any trouble with her?”

“No,” I growl instantly. “No trouble.” I turn to look at my brother. “And only I deal with her, all right? No one else goes near her.”

She’s my burden to bear. The walking example of what happens when you let a woman get close to you. My own personal walking lesson.

“You want me to call Kira back?”

“Who?” I ask Tracker distractedly.

He barks out a laugh and shakes his head. “Never mind.”

Bailey is back.

And my guard is up higher than motherfuckin’ ever.

Two months later

H
E
said what?” Tia gasps, then giggles.

I take a small sip of my coffee and hesitantly repeat, “He said that one of my boobs was the size of his head.”

She laughs harder, clutching her chest, her blond hair framing her oval face like a curtain. “Men these days. How hilarious are they? And by
hilarious
I mean
stupid
.”

I giggle at that. “Right? I think I’ve had enough dating to last me a lifetime.”

“You went on two dates after the whole Trevor fiasco,” Tia points out with a smirk. “And one ended between the sheets.”

I groan and put my coffee down on the table. “Please, don’t remind me.” I pause. “At least none of them had a foot fetish.”

“I don’t think he meant the boob thing as an insult,” she continues, blue eyes wide on me. “It would have been a compliment. He was merely making an observation. You do have huge boobs.”

I look down at the boobs in question. “Yeah, but he should enjoy them, not compare the size to his head! Maybe his head is just really small.”

Tia’s shoulders shake, and she wipes her eyes, which are starting to water. She always cries when she laughs. “The sex couldn’t have been that bad!”

I cover my face with my hands, not wanting to relive it. “It was horrible. He kept calling my . . . my . . .”

“Your what?” Tia asks, leaning closer to me. I point downward to my crotch. “Your pussy?” she supplies casually.

I nod.

“What was he calling it?” she asks, sounding both curious and on the verge of laughter.

I groan, yeah I’m not going to say that word out loud. “The c-word.”

Tia grins, slamming her hand down on my dining table. “A cu—”

“Yes,” I say, cutting her off. “That.”

“A little dirty talk never hurt anyone,” she huffs, lifting her mug to her lips, hiding her smirk.

“There is something seriously wrong with you,” I tell my neighbor. I moved next door to Tia over a year ago. We became fast friends, and so did our children. My daughter, Cara, and her son, Rhett, are almost the same age and spend a fair bit of time together; we take turns having each other over for meals and company. We became family in such a short time, and I love them both to death.

“I’m all for the dirty talk,” I agree. “But that word? Yeah, no. Why can’t he just say
pussy
like a normal dirty-talking man?” Even the word
pussy
sounds foreign on my tongue. Before I became friends with Tia, I never really spoke about my sex life.

When he told me he loved fucking my c-word, I kind of wished I was anywhere except under him.

“Did he make you come, at least?” she asks, not shy at all.

“When did the two of us lose our boundaries?” I ask myself, staring at the ceiling for a second.

“Probably when you walked in on me having sex with—”

“Oh god, don’t make me relive it!” I shriek, cutting off the rest of her sentence. I’d once come over to her house to find the door unlocked. Panicked, thinking someone had broken in, or something was wrong, I ran into the house while dialing the police, only to find her riding some guy. It was awkward. She didn’t think so, but I did and still do.

“Bailey,” she says in a serious tone. “You’re a catch. A great woman. The best. And a fucking babe. If you can’t find a good man, what chance do the rest of us have?”

I smile sadly. “Maybe not all of us are meant to be with someone. I have a house. A job. A beautiful, healthy daughter. If that’s all I get in life, I’ll be happy with it.”

“Bullshit,” Tia says, narrowing her blue eyes. “You’ll find someone, when the time is right. Someone who isn’t a creep like Trevor.”

Yeah, I sure know how to pick them. Tia knows a few things about Adam, but not the whole story. No one knows the whole story except me.

I push my dark hair back behind my ear and mutter, “I won’t hold my breath.”

Cara and Rhett run into the kitchen, saving me from Tia’s attempt at a motivational speech.

“You two finished playing games?” I ask my daughter, hugging her as she runs into my arms, her brown hair flailing around.

“Yeah,” she says, her big brown eyes glancing up at me. “Can we go play outside now?”

I nod. “Yeah, okay. How about a snack first?”

“Yes, please!” Rhett calls out, always hungry. His blond hair falls over his forehead, his blue eyes identical to Tia’s peer up at me in excitement.

“Okay,” I tell him. “Wash your hands while I fix you both something.”

They wash their hands and wait patiently at the table while I make them some fruit salad, and pull out some Jell-O from the fridge to go with it.

“Thanks, Mom!” Cara says, picking up her fork and stabbing a piece of watermelon.

“Thanks, Aunt Bailey,” Rhett says, doing the same. I always get a little emotional when he calls me Aunt, even though we aren’t blood related. Tia says I’m more family to them than their own family, and that I’ve done more for Rhett than his real aunts, so I’ve earned the title.

I share a glance with her. Here we are, both single mothers, doing the best we can, but even I have to admit we both have great children.

Tia smiles, reading my thoughts. “We’ve done well, haven’t we?”

Cara looks up at me and grins before returning her concentration to the food.

“Yeah, we did.”

*   *   *

The last place I ever thought I’d see Lana and Anna again is the school I teach at, so when I hear them both calling my name, I turn around with my mouth open in shock.

“What are the two of you doing here?” I ask, hugging Anna, then Lana.

“We’re here for Clover,” Lana replies, then points to a cute dark-haired girl in the crowd.

“She’s gorgeous. Neither of you mentioned having a child!”

But then again, neither had I.

Anna’s green eyes widen. “Oh, she isn’t ours. She’s Sin and Faye’s daughter. Friends of ours.”

“Oh,” I say, putting the pieces together. “You’re here to watch her race?”

Today was Field Day, and other schools were here to compete. The younger children came to play team games and have a friendly race or two.

Anna nods. “Yeah, we all came out to cheer for her. It’s her first race. She’s so excited, you should see her.”

Lana looks down at her shoes and shuffles them in the grass. “Why didn’t you call us after we saw you at Rift? We thought we’d all have caught up by now.”

My mind races with how to handle this. I don’t want to tell them the truth, but I don’t want them to think I don’t want to see them either. “I didn’t have your number.”

With social media, it was a lame excuse at best, but Anna’s eyes narrow. “Rake said he gave you my number.”

Well, fuck.

That bastard!

“Well, he didn’t,” I tell her. “Look, girls, the truth is, I’d love to hang out with you both, but I don’t want to see Adam. There’s too much history there, and to be honest, I don’t even want to be around him. Trust me when I say the feeling is mutual.”

Anna crosses her arms over her chest. “Who says Rake has to be there? We can have ladies’ nights; he can do his own thing. It’s not like he told us to stay away from you.”

Now it’s my turn to look down at my feet, as though they suddenly became interesting.

“What the fuck?” Anna growls, her hands falling loose and clenching. “He didn’t?!”

Even Lana looks surprised. “He doesn’t want you around that badly? Damn. That doesn’t sound like Rake at all. He’s normally pretty easygoing.”

“Not around me,” I grumble. “He told me he didn’t want me around the two of you. You’re his sister, Anna—unfortunately he got you in the breakup. I can’t go against his wishes, because if he finds out, he’s going to be in my face and that’s the last thing I want. I never want to see him again if I can manage it.”

Lana and Anna share a speculative glance.

“What?” I ask, dragging out the word.

Anna grins, her eyes lighting up. “Rake’s going on a run next weekend. He’ll be gone for a few days. We can catch up for a drink or two. He won’t find out; it’ll be fine.”

“Famous last words,” I say with an exaggerated sigh, even though all three of us knew damn well I was going to go out with them. “Is he here to watch Clover?”

They both shake their heads, but Anna answers. “Nah, Sin and Tracker are here. The rest of the men had shit to do.”

I look behind the girls and see Tracker sitting on the hood of a black four-wheel drive. Next to him is a man with dark hair. His arm is around a woman who is waving her hands in the air in Clover’s direction. The two men are wearing the vest things I’ve seen bikers wear, and both look extremely imposing.

In fact, all the other parents have given them a wide berth.

Lana pulls out her phone and hands it to me. “Give us your number.”

I put my number in and save it. “I guess he’s going to find out you two saw me here today anyway.”

“Can I ask you something?” Anna says, a serious expression on her pretty face. I already know what she’s going to ask, but I nod my head anyway.

“What happened between the two of you? You were the best couple. I’ve never seen young love like that in my life. Everyone thought you’d get married.”

So did I, but life doesn’t always turn out how you expect it.

I lick my suddenly dry lips. A few words flow through my mind.

Utter devastation.

Heartbreak.

Tragedy.

Pain.

A lot of fucking pain.

“I guess it just didn’t work out,” I tell them, shrugging simply. Understatement of the fucking year.

N
EXT
weekend comes around faster than usual. Lana texted me a few days ago and asked if I could meet them at Rift, which was the last place I wanted to be. When I told her as much, she told me that we could meet at a bar called Knox’s Tavern instead. Tia offered to keep Cara for the night so I could go out and enjoy a night with my old friends. Still, I’m feeling a little unsure.

I love Anna and Lana, but being with them brings back so many memories. Having them in my life brings back Adam. My Adam, not the biker badass known as Rake. The Adam I loved, before he broke me. I keep trying to find a love like what we shared, but it just never measures up. And it makes me hate him even more. I need to get over it, I know. But I’ve tried and I can’t. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get to the point where I can see him and not feel anything, good or bad. I wish I could.

I’d love to see him and feel absolutely nothing, to be numb. For my heart not to race, for my chest not to get tight. For me
to be able to breathe freely, not feel like tears are about to drip down my cheeks.

Maybe one day.

I glance at my reflection in my full-length mirror, looking from side to side. My dark hair is down and curled at the ends, and I’d done a red lip and winged eyeliner. My brown eyes are nothing special, but I’m lucky to be blessed with thick, long lashes. Lashes that Cara inherited from me. With a final inspection, I grab my black clutch and slip my feet into my black strappy high heels.

Then, I call a taxi.

*   *   *

“Do they only hire sexy men here?” I ask with wide eyes, as I take in the hunks around me. “And twins. Seriously?”

How are they real?

Was being sexy a requirement for working here?

Anna looks toward the bar and laughs. “I used to work here. Reid, Ryan, and Tag, they’re all good guys. Reid can be a pain in the ass though.”